Super Bowl Ad Lifts SodaStream Most Since June: Israel Overnight

By Leon Lazaroff -
Jan 31, 2013

SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) is
poised for its biggest gain in seven months as the Israeli maker
of home soda machines seeks to expand sales in the U.S. by
airing its first Super Bowl commercial.

Shares have posted a 13 percent gain this month after
dropping 0.3 percent to $50.53 in New York yesterday. The
Bloomberg Israel-US Equity Index (ISRA25BN) of the largest New-York traded
Israeli companies fell to the lowest in two months, following
the benchmark TA-25 Index’s 0.8 percent retreat yesterday amid
reports of an Israeli attack near Syria’s border with Lebanon.
Gazit-Globe Ltd. (GLOB) dropped the most in three weeks.

SodaStream is looking to boost its market share in the
Americas, which accounted for 33 percent by Sept. 30. The maker
of do-it-yourself soft-drink machines, which has targeted the
bottled beverage industry through its marketing campaigns, spent
about $40 million last year on U.S. advertising and promotions,
according to Monness Crespi Hardt & Co. SodaStream will join
companies that pay CBS Corp. (CBS) an average of $3.75 million for a
30-second spot on the Super Bowl, research company WPP Group’s
Kantar Media said.

“The Super Bowl ad should give retailers a reason to stock
up on SodaStream makers in February, which is generally a slow
month,” Jim Chartier, an analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt who
rates the shares a buy, said by phone from New York yesterday.
“A $4 million commitment for the Super Bowl might sound like a
lot, but they’re coming off a very successful TV campaign in the
fall and this is an opportunity to build on that.”

Border Attack

The Bloomberg Israel-US Equity Index declined 0.2 percent
to 84.9, the lowest since Nov. 21. The TA-25 Index (TA-25) was little
changed at 1,176.62 as of 10:16 a.m. in Tel Aviv. Israeli jets
attacked a weapons-transport convoy near Syria’s border with
Lebanon, Agence France-Presse said, citing people it didn’t
identify by name.

SodaStream, based in Airport City, Israel, has sought to
attract customers by arguing that buying packaged drinks clogs
up landfills and is bad for the environment. SodaStream Chief
Executive Office Daniel Birnbaum said in November that the
company expected to spend about 16 percent of sales, or an
estimated $72.4 million, on advertising and promotions in 2012.

The Super Bowl, the pro football championship game that
will take place in New Orleans on Feb. 3, is the most-watched
television event in the country, drawing more than 111 million
U.S. viewers. CBS rejected an initial commercial from SodaStream
which contrasted its products with trucks filled with soda
bottles from Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) The two largest
beverages makers also purchased commercials during the game.

Banned Commercial

The company’s spot during the Super Bowl will be similar to
its “Set the Bubbles Free” commercial that ran in the U.S.
during the holiday season, Yonah Lloyd, the company’s executive
director of corporate development, wrote in an e-mailed
statement on Jan. 29.

The ad, which has received more than 2.5 million hits on
Google Inc. (GOOG)’s YouTube, was rejected by a U.K. regulator in
November after a ruling that the advertisement which shows
crates of bottled beverages spontaneously exploding “denigrated
other soft drinks.”

SodaStream will probably say on Feb. 28 that sales rose 37
percent last year to $425 million, according to the mean
estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The company
last year expanded into U.S. retail outlets including Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. (WMT) The U.S. represents more than 90 percent of
SodaStream’s Americas sales, which also include Canada and
Brazil, Lloyd said.

Gazit, AudioCodes

Gazit-Globe, a real estate firm, dropped 2.3 percent to
$12.77. Shares in Tel Aviv, which lost 1.7 percent yesterday,
fell 0.4 percent to 47.31 shekels, or $12.67, today. Trading
volume in New York was almost five times the daily average over
the past three months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

AudioCodes Ltd. (AUDC), a developer of Internet calling software,
declined the most in four months in New York after forecasting
2013 profit that fell short of a mistaken estimate issued by
Oppenheimer & Co. Shares dropped 6.9 percent to $3.51 in U.S.
trading, the biggest one-day slump since Sept. 27. Trading
volume was almost seven times the stock’s daily average over the
past three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
AudioCodes fell 3.2 percent to 12.95 shekels in Tel Aviv today,
or the equivalent of $3.47.